Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) · 117 of 123 · tr. A.E. Waite
22. The Book Of Hermes-j
Thus the universal tradition of the one religion was broken for a moment, darkness or doubt spread over the whole earth, and it seemed in the eyes of ignorance, that true catholicism, the universal revelation, had disappeared for a space.
The explanation of the book of St.
John by the characters of the Kabalah will be an entirely new revelation, though foreseen by several distinguished Magi, one among whom, M.
Augustin Chaho, thus expresses himself: “The poem of the Apocalypse presupposes in the young evangelist a complete system and traditions individually developed by himself.
It is written in the form of a vision, and weaves into a brilliant framework of poetry the whole erudition, the whole thought of African civilization.
An inspired bard, the author touches upon a series of ruling events; he draws in bold outlines the history of society from cataclysm to cataclysm, and even further still.
The truths which he reveals are prophecies brought from far and wide, of which he is the resounding echo.
He is the voice which cries, the voice which chants the harmonies of the desert and prepares paths for the light.
His speech peals forth with mastery and compels faith, for he carries among savage nations the oracles of IAO, and unveils Him Who is the First-Born of the Sun for the admiration of civilizations to come.
The theory of the four ages is found in the Apocalypse, as it is also in the books of Zoroaster and in the Bible.
The gradual reconstruction of primeval federations, of the reign of God among peoples emancipated from the yoke of tyrants and the bonds of error, are foretold clearly for the end of the fourth age, and the recurrence of the cataclysm, exhibited at first from afar, is portrayed in the fulness of time.
The description of the cataclysm and its duration; the new world emerging from the waves and spreading in all its beauty under heaven; the great serpent, bound for a time by an angel in the depths of the abyss; finally, the dawn of that age to come, prophesied by the Word, Who appeared to the apostle at the beginning of the poem: ‘His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.’ Such is Ormuz, Osiris, Chourien, the Lamb, the Christ, the Ancient of Days, the Man of the time and the river celebrated by Daniel.
He is the first and the last, Who was, Who must be, ALPHA and OMEGA, beginning and end.
He holds the key of mysteries in His hands; He opens the great abyss of central fire, where death sleeps beneath the canopy of darkness, where sleeps the great serpent awaiting the wakening of the ages.” The author connects this sublime allegory of St.
John with that of Daniel, wherein the four forms of the sphinx are applied to the chief periods of history, where the Man-Sun, the Word-Light, consoles and instructs the seer.
“The prophet Daniel beholds a sea tossed by the four winds of heaven, and beasts differing one from another come out of the depths of the ocean.
The empire of all things on earth was given them for a time, two times, and the dividing of time.
They were four who so came forth.
The first beast, symbol of the solar race of seers, came from the region of Africa, resembling a lion and having eagle's wings: the heart of a man was given it.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The passage links the Apocalypse, Kabbalah, Zoroaster, and the Bible as parts of a single universal system of truth.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The divine figure is described extensively through light imagery: 'eyes were as a flame of fire,' 'countenance was as the sun shineth,' and 'Word-Light.'
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The history of society is described as 'foretold clearly' and governed by divine oracles.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The passage describes a final cataclysm, the binding of the serpent, and the end of the fourth age.
The text details the 'gradual reconstruction of primeval federations' and a 'new world emerging' at the end of the fourth age, aligning with cosmic restoration.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage explicitly describes a 'universal tradition of the one religion' and equates Ormuz, Osiris, Christ, and other divine figures as one entity.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The 'voice' is described as compelling faith and sounding like many waters, indicating the power of the spoken divine word.